The Breakfast Group celebrated its 30th Annual “Tie One On” Event last Thursday at the Olympic Four Seasons. This event, a symbol of mentorship at its highest level, brings together professional Black men and young men of color in a bond of brotherhood to enhance the lives and futures of young men of color.
“I am excited about today’s event, the ‘Tie One On’ Luncheon,” says Amani Harris, President of the Breakfast Group. “The Breakfast Group has a vision. It is to introduce youth and families to achieving at the highest levels of education and economic opportunities.”
The event highlights the relationships between mentor and mentee as professional men take at-risk youth under their wings. Amidst a three-course luncheon, the event featured a lineup of special guest speakers, including Governor Jay Inslee and King County Sheriff Patricia Cole-Tindall. The young, honored guests each received a new tie as a rite of passage and learned how to tie it in a jubilant atmosphere.
“Today’s event is the beginning of this process. What we do is we motivate our young people with this ‘Tie One On’ motivational event, we also recognize our people with ‘The All Achievers’, which is our recognition event, but we also take it a step further by providing young people with tangible and intangible skills. This is extremely important because our young people need purpose and focus,” added Harris.
Founded in 1976, The Breakfast Group is the oldest (non-fraternity) all-male African American organization in the Pacific Northwest. This nonprofit organization, comprised of civic-minded and professional Black men, is committed to mentorship and addressing the challenges and barriers at-risk youth of color face, with a focus on Black males. The primary goal of the organization is to support low-income youth of color in achieving their educational objectives, and to work closely with the community’s highest-risk young men.
“The ‘Tie One On’ has been kind of a highlight in my years with students as well as working with the community and to see how it has progressed now for some forty-something years with the guidance of the Breakfast Group has been outstanding,” says Dr. John Drumond, retired Seattle Public Schools Principal. “Young men have an opportunity to become a future businessman, a future student, a future venturis, but to come in and be celebrated for their hard work and to move on to the next level of their education, it is outstanding, the community has blessed us with resources for these students to continue their success.”
Additionally, the group is committed to assisting young men of color in accomplishing their secondary education and to access higher education and/or employment after high school. The importance of this is expressed by members such as Dr. George Counts (Ret.), one of America’s leading Black infectious disease doctors.
“The ‘Tie One On’ event is one of the most important events of the Breakfast Group activities,” says Dr. Counts. “Because it deals with the heart of what we are trying to do, taking young men moving them forward, showing them the support that is available for them and having them look at moving from where they are, to where they can be.”
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